Craftsman 315.175342 Operator's Manual page 18

FEEDINGTOOSLOW
See Figure 21.
It is possible to spoil a cut by moving the router forward
too slowly. When you advance the router into the work too
slowly, the revolving cutter does not dig into new wood
fast enough to take a bite; instead, it merely scrapes away
sawdust-like particles. Scraping produces heat, which
can glaze, burn, or mar the cut and in extreme cases, can
overheat the cutter, destroying its hardness.
When the cutter is scraping instead of cutting, controlling
the router is more difficult. With practically no load on the
motor, the cutter revolves at close to top RPM, and has
a much greater than normal tendency to bounce off the
sides of the cut (especially if the wood has a pronounced
grain with hard and soft areas). As a result, the cut pro-
duced may have rippled, instead of straight, sides.
TOOSLOW
Fig. 21
Feeding too slowly can also cause the router to take off in a
wrong direction from the intended line of cut. Always grasp
and hold the router firmly with both hands when routing.
You can detect when you are feeding the router too slowly by
the runaway, high-pitched sound of the motor or by feeling
the wiggle of the cutter in the cut.
DEPTH OF CUT
See Figures 22 - 23.
Depth of cut is important because it affects the rate of
feed that, in turn, affects the quality of the cut and the
possibility of damage to the tool's motor and cutter.
DEPTH
F _Z2T
i'd--WiDTH OF CUT
Fig. 22
A deep cut requires a slower feed than a shallow one. A
cut that is too deep will slow the feed so that the cutter
is scraping rather than cutting. A too deep cut can cause
smaller cutters to be broken off. Cutters that are 1/16 in.
in diameter are easily broken off when subjected to too
much side thrust. A large enough cutter is not likely to
break, but attempting a cut that is too deep may result
in a rough cut, and it may be difficult to guide and con-
trol the cutter as desired. It is recommended that you do
not exceed 1/8 in. depth of cut in a single pass, regard-
less of the cutter size or the softness or condition of the
workpiece.
2ND
PASS
p2AINsIDs r_i ;ASsTs IST
Fig. 23
To make deeper cuts, make as many successive passes
as needed, lowering the cutter 1/8 in. for each new pass.
To save time, perform all the cutting necessary at one
depth setting before lowering the cutter for the next pass.
This will insure a uniform depth when you complete the
final pass.
NOTE: Do not remove more than 1/8 in. in a single pass.
Excessive depth of cut can result in loss of control and the
possibility of serious personal injury.
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